Treading Water
by Oparu
Summary: Lily's mom is dating the Evil Queen, her other mom, and Robin Hood (not the fox from the cartoon, the person). Somehow Mom's pregnant, everyone else thinks that's totally fine, and if it weren't for her sort of step-brothers, she'd go nuts. Might lose it anyway, because she has to have dinner with Snow White and Prince Charming. (Dragon Outlaw Queen, bottomless sea 'verse part 3


"Will you wake Roland for dinner?" Regina asks, laying out the placemats and silverware. "I want to give him a chance to wake up before our family starts to arrive."

She says our family, as if they belong to Lily as well. Henry does, she supposes. Kid's a great little brother, so's Roland. She's always liked being around Emma, but maybe that's because she's part of Emma. It doesn't make her family to carry Emma's darkness within her. He says they're trying. Everyone is trying to get along and work through the mess some author made of all their lives.

"Maybe take your mom some tea, see if she feels any better?" Regina tilts her head towards the kettle on the stove. "The water's hot."

There's a story there that Lily probably won't hear. Everyone's protecting her, even Mom. Like it'll matter if she knows Mom spent the whole day sick, again. Mom doesn't seem to care. She's happy, and she has that weird perception of time, so maybe it doesn't feel like she's been sick all day. Even if it did, even if she hates it, she won't complain about it to Lily. She's too careful, as if hyper aware that this is difficult for her. It's not her fault, sex with Regina seems to be full of this particular danger. Maybe there's some kind of magical thing that binds them together that makes makes Mom so easily knocked up by Regina. No one's ever been able to explain it.

"Bad day?"

"I wasn't home," Regina says, and that miserable look passes over her face. Maybe she needs to take some time off before the guilt makes her feel worse than Mom does. "Robin had to help track a wolf through the edge of the forest and Marian dropped Roland off on her way to work, and I think Mal and Roland were alone after that. I'm sure they were fine, but–"

"You feel like you should do more."

Regina nods to sauce on the stove. "I didn't get pregnant, she did, twice." She turns it down and gives it another stir without looking at Lily. "There's beer in the fridge, Robin got more of that dark one you liked."

Setting up the tea bag, Lily turns to the fridge and grabs a bottle out of the little cardboard pack. This will be easier with beer. "Guess you don't have magical birth control?" Lily opens her beer, watching the teabag turn the water to gold.

"It is hard to prevent something that shouldn't happen in the first place." Regina sighs and accepts the beer Lily holds up for her. "I shouldn't say that."

"It's okay. I know you weren't trying to have me." That makes Regina's hopeful smile shatter and Lily tries to fix it. "You and Mom actually want me now, and you're the first people to do that for awhile, so you get a pass." She sips her beer, taking comfort in the bitterness of it. She never means to make Regina feel bad, it just keeps happening.

Regina stirs the huge pot of noodles and then, checks the timer for the bread. She leans against the counter for a moment, and her exhaustion shows in the set of her shoulders. She's carrying a lot, running the town, this new relationship she's forged with Mom and Robin, plus trying to work things out with Henry's family. She must be worried about Mom as well because Regina just looks so tired lately. "We love you."

"I know." She gives Regina a little smile which makes her smile back. Progress.

"But I can't tell you we were trying to have a baby, or that I would have been a good mother to you then if your mother had told me."

"Yeah," Lily agrees. Then she shrugs. "It's okay. Things were different there, you were both different, and who knows, maybe if I'd been around, we might have met. Mom-" she stops, but it's not really a secret. "I don't think she would have kept me away from you. So if there hadn't been that curse, who knows."

Regina gets that look again, the one where she's beating herself up inside. Shit. What's she's supposed to say now?

"It's nice that I know you now," Lily says, shuffling her feet as she grabs Mom's tea. "And I know it sucked, for everyone, but having you and Mom, and Henry, Roland, Robin, that's nice, now. It's good now, Okay?"

Stirring the huge pot of noodles, Regina nods, and she sniffs, but doesn't wipe her eyes. Mom would be in tears by now, so maybe this is better. Lily looks at her other mother again, finds another smile so she won't feel bad, then heads upstairs.

Roland's not in the spare room that's quickly becoming his. She doesn't hear him running around, so he'll be with Mom. The two of them get along like gangbusters. In the master bedroom, they're both asleep, surrounded by stuffed animals and picture books. Her chest aches like she's been kicked, because this is her mom, wrapped up with this little boy. She must have read to him until they both fell asleep. There's burnt toast on a plate by the bed, and the open box of cookies.

This should have been her. She should have gotten to sit with her mom when she was sick, listening to her read. Some of the books are familiar, but Regina has a more complete library than her adoptive parents did. The stuffed monkey she's seen a lot lately, because Roland keeps giving it to her mom when she's sick.

And mom, her scary dragon bitch of a mother, likes the damn thing. It's hard not to like the kid, he's a pretty cute little brother and like everyone else it seems, he wants to look after Mom.

She touches her hand first, and dammit, she's still hotter than she's supposed to be. Lily's never been cold, not even before she knew why that it was, and Mom's just as warm, but lately, she's past that. Even to Lily, her skin's fevered. That can't be good, right? It doesn't seem good, but Mom thinks it's okay. That part at least reminds her of being pregnant with Lily.

Stroking her fingers, Lily rubs her hand. "Mom?"

Roland opens his eyes first, beaming at her. "Hi Lily."

"Hey little guy, how was your nap?"

"Good." He says, yawning. He sits up. Him moving wakes her because it moves the arm she had wrapped around him.

Mom blinks, then smiles up at her. "Lily."

"Company's almost here. Regina wanted to give you two time to get dressed and all ready for dinner."

Lily sits on the edge of the bed, and Roland scurries over to her, hugging her tight before he slips down. Cute kid.

"What dinner?"

"Pasta, salad, bread, maybe meatballs," she says and he grins more.

"Regina makes good meatballs." Roland beams up at Mom again and grabs his toys before he runs off.

Mom sits up slower, taking her time to rise so she's leaning against the headboard. She's somehow pale and too pink at the same time, and she's in her pyjamas and it's almost dinner time. Sure, they're nice pyjamas, the silky, fancy ones, like the rest of Mom's clothes, but her hair's all rumpled. Is it too much to ask that she look after Roland while she's this bad? Would she say something if it was? She really likes the kid, so maybe it doesn't matter to her.

"I brought tea."

"Thank you."

Mom takes it, and she winces, just a little. She does that a lot lately. Something moves too fast, she doesn't eat enough, or she eats the wrong thing. It seems like pregnancy sucks and everyone's figured that out but Mom. She sips her tea and makes that face.

"You don't have to come down," Lily says, stacking up the books. "Did you eat your toast?"

"Some of it."

"Did it help?"

Mom smiles at her over the mug of tea. "A little."

"Do you have clothes here? Can I help?" Lily sets the books down on the fancy chaise lounge and heads for the closet. Of course it's huge, and the first half seems to be Regina's, but this suit jacket is Mom's and the rest of the clothes afterwards seem to be hers. "What do you want to wear?"

Mom drinks more of her tea and sets it down. She picks up the cold toast and takes a bite. It can't be good. Neither she or Roland are that good with the toaster, and Mom can cook him a few things, but they're mostly just heating up frozen stuff. Maybe it's not a surprise that they get along. "It doesn't matter."

Grabbing a pink sweater and a bra, a tank top, Lily starts digging through Mal's trousers. Not all of them are fancy, and she finally finds a softer pair. Not even mom wears a three piece suit when she's not feeling well. She digs up a pair of socks, then choses underwear. They don't match the bra, hopefully Mom won't care about that.

"Here, these are comfy."

"Comfy?" Mom repeats, swinging her legs off of the bed. She doesn't stand up, not yet. So it is bad, today.

"You know, things that feel good when you wear them," Lily explains. She sets the stack of clothing on the bed and turns around quick because her mom starts unbuttoning her top and changing.

"I have many things like that."

"I don't think you're allowed to call corsets, or anything that requires a tie, comfy," Lily says. Now she'll probably get an explanation how some of them actually are fairly comfortable. "You okay coming down?"

Her clothing stops rustling. "I'm fine."

Mom's hand rests on her shoulder, and Lily almost turns around, but she's pissed again and Mom always gets so sad when she sees that. Mom wants to move on and just be happy but there's a angry well that just keeps bubbling up inside of Lily that she doesn't know how to deal with.

"Lily?"

She tries to keep her voice level, but it falters. "How can you be okay, having dinner with them?"

Mom's closer, and her arms slip around Lily. "Because you're there. Snow and the prince are, at times, insufferable, but they care for Regina, and Henry, so for that, I will tolerate their presence as long as I need to. It's just dinner, it'll be over soon."

Lily hugs her back without turning around, wishing she could be more optimistic. "Okay."

Mom's far too warm against her, but she kisses the back of Lily's head. "I'll be down in a moment, tell Regina not to worry."

"She will," Lily mutters to herself, but Mom's already changing out of her pyjamas, so she leaves her to it.

Somehow everyone thinks this is okay, making Mom be social while she's sick. The problem isn't just having people over, because fine, Emma and Hook are okay. Emma is the same Emma she's always been, a sunshine place in a dark universe and Hook, Captain Hook (less flamboyant than the cartoon) is funny. He drinks with her and he understands the darkness in her past in a way not a lot of people do.

But it's them, Snow White and Prince Charming, the people who took her before she even hatched and sent her away. Henry says it's not their fault entirely, they were manipulated, but still. They took her from Mom, separated them when Mom couldn't defend herself, or her.

She can't now, either. Don't they understand that, Robin and Regina? Don't they realize that this is too much to ask, especially now? If the three of them are really some kind of thing, why aren't they protecting Mom better? How can they all be calm when none of them know what's happening, or why Mom's so much sicker this? Lily's read through all the books Regina has, pestered Henry, even talked to Rumplestiltskin, and for some reason, this stuff, dragon stuff, just isn't written down. No dusty book knows why a creature so famously infertile, like everything says dragons are supposed to be, could manage to get pregnant twice in thirty years, with a human. If they're even really calling it pregnant.

Everyone's just being so careful around her that they barely even use the word; trying to make sure she doesn't feel like this is just some kind of replacement baby who gets everything Lily never did, and isn't full of darkness.

And is just better. Of course, that's not true. No one sees it that way. Mom and Regina were definitely not trying to get pregnant. She finishes the rest of her beer and grabs a second out of the fridge. She can't even get drunk in Storybrooke because her dragon side shakes off alcohol. The taste helps, a little.

Henry smiles at her as they set the table and Roland insists she sit next to him and this might be okay. Maybe.

Then the doorbell rings, and they're here.

Regina doesn't just cook, she orchestrates a meal and he and Henry are just part of that. Her long dining room table will fit all of them without it being too tight, but it'll be full. It's not just pasta, but salad and bread, soft white cheese layered with tomatoes and basil. The way they mix food from all different areas is so different from the old world. There were so many different foods to try during their short time in New York. He's not sure he could name them all, but Regina must know how to make most of them.

She has so many stories about learning to cook, trying to recipes over and over until she got them right. Regina must have been so bored, and lonely, before Henry came that learning the secrets of this world must have been one of the few ways to keep herself sane.

He catches her attention, kissing her cheek while she tosses the salad together on the island. "How was work?"

Regina sighs; her duties are only the first of the many burdens on her shoulders. "The Town Council's still trying to decide what businesses they want to approve for the year, and there's a lot of paperwork to work out for the businesses from the old world, shoemakers, weavers, even blacksmiths. Everyone wants to make a living, and the town needs to stay solvent, in some fashion, but the tax code is less "

The cursed economy is even more complicated the second time around, and Regina carries so much of that. They're all adapting, trying to work out how they fit in their world and what they want this world to be. His own position is still evolving, somewhere between ranger and liaison to those who chose not to live in town. Regina knows the numbers on his paycheck better than he does, but it matters little. Unlike New York, there's no impending bills to worry about.

He holds her shoulders, waiting for her to stop, just for a moment. "Henry and Roland?"

"They're fine," she says, and finally smiles a little, but there's something that keeps her forehead tight with concern. "Henry finished his homework for the weekend. Came by on her way to work and left Roland with Mal, which is fine, he said they had a nice afternoon-"

Robin touches her cheek, trying to imagine his son using those words. "He said that?"

Regina leans closer to him, finally revealing her exhaustion as she slips into his arms, "She made sure he ate and read to him before they took a nap."

That's the problem. "I'm sorry," he says, kissing her forehead. "I thought Marian didn't begin work until much later. Was Mal all right with him?"

"She hasn't come down yet." Regina rests her head against his, drawing on his strength. Her mouth finds his, only for a moment, but kissing comforts her enough for her smile to be less pained. "Her fever, if that's what it is, was higher today."

"Let me guess, she still says she's fine."

"I don't know," Regina says, slipping out of his arms. She leans against the island, needing to look at his eyes. "She took it easy with Roland."

"That's good."

"But we still don't know what's happening, why this is so different from the last time." Regina lifts the salad fork and sets it back down before she does the salad any more damage. She's fidgeting because she can't help Maleficent directly, and there's not much else he can do to calm her. He rubs her arm. Being helpless is one of the more unpleasant sensations, and Regina blames herself so utterly for not being able to do more. "At least she's taking it easy."

Regina's gaze drifts upstairs, as if she can see through the floor and perhaps worry a little less. "Is it enough? It's so different this time. With Lily I was right next to her and I didn't know. I couldn't tell anything was different. She hid it well. I was right next to her and didn't see-"

"You can see it now, right?" Lily asks, hanging on the doorway into the kitchen. Her eyes flash like jagged stones in the bottom of a river. "I think you could see she's sick from across the room."

Regina winces back, looking at the floor before she looks up. "How is she?"

"Exhausted, nauseated, I think her head hurts but she won't tell me, and I know she runs hot, because I do, but even I think she has a fever." She pushes off the doorframe, then heads for the fridge. Lily grabs another beer and shakes her head. "And you're making her have dinner with the last people I would ever want her to be with when she could defend herself."

He puts his hand on Regina's shoulder, trying to steady her. "Maleficent doesn't have to come down for dinner."

"And you'll say what? She's sick? You want to answer these questions?" Lily pops the cap off her her beer and tosses it into the recycling. He has to smile at that because that's Regina there, in her. She sips her beer then shakes her head. "I can't even get drunk off of this, maybe I'm just drinking it out of habit. It can't even make me feel better."

"I can call Snow and-"

"Don't do that," Mal interrupts and he's towards her before he's realized that his feet were moving. That soft pink sweater is entirely unlike what he's used to seeing her in. She looks at his outstretched hand in surprise, but accepts his arm around her back readily enough. Lily's right, she radiates heat like the rocks around a bonfire. "This is Henry's family."

Robin looks at Lily, then Regina and the tension between them hangs in the air. "And we can get to know them on a night when you're feeling better."

Mal chuckles, and for a moment, her head's on his shoulder. She smells of fire, but not a roaring one, tonight, it's the soft scent of a campfire struggling against the rain. "That might be awhile yet. They're already in the driveway."

The doorbell rings and Regina moves to answer it. "Could you-?" she asks, tilting her head towards Lily, maybe him, but Lily takes over, moving the salad to the table.

"Do you?"

Lily shrugs. "Putting food out is kinda what I do."

Mal's gaze follows her and Robin nudges towards the dining room.

"Come on, sit down," he starts, and she walks with him, letting his hand stay on her back. "I hope Roland wasn't too much trouble, I'll talk to Marian about dropping him off like that."

"He was fine," she says. Mal sits in the chair he offers, and looks up at him. "He understood."

"He's not always a sainted child," he says. It's hard to believe, watching Roland come in from the other room. Roland's dimples are always distracting, but he's seen his son lose his mind over not being allowed another cookie. Emotions are intense for teh young. "He looks angelic, but he can be a demon when he's in a mood."

"Hi Papa," Roland hugs him, then runs off to find Regina and the excitement by the door.

"You can call me," he says, hands on her shoulders. "If he gets out of hand, or if you're tired. He's my son."

She tilts her head, studying him before she smiles. "Call, that's the phone thing. Lily wants me to."

"We'll talk about it," Lily promises, bringing in the last of the bread. The table's full, brimming with Regina's work, and the smells of it remind him that it's been hours since he ate. "You can learn to use a phone. Robin did."

Snow and David enter first, David already holds a glass of wine. Emma and Killian follow with Henry. There's more than enough food, good wine, and he chose the beer. Regina sits on his left, and he rests his hand on her thigh. Her mind's on everyone else: does Emma need more wine, is Roland's eating enough of his pasta, not just the meatballs, is Maleficent eating enough at all, because on his left she's only picked at her food.

Robin hands her more bread, and he knows she hates it, because there's that dragon part of her who just can't face eating something that came from plants, but Regina's meatballs have spice to them, and they're heavier, probably much more unpleasant to throw up if she reaches that point again.

She's still so confused by her nausea, and unlike her phone, it's not something she can ignore because she doesn't understand it. His thoughts flit back to Marian, and how happy she was at this stage of her pregnancy. When they told the Merry Men, that celebration lasted until dawn. Marian was a little sick, at the beginning, and it was nothing like what came later.

He couldn't help her either, but she was more understanding of what was happening to her. Maybe because she'd had the elders whispering to her all her life, and seen her mother bear most of her siblings. Maleficent hasn't had that. She's been apart, devoid of community, of that kind of support. Perhaps that's why she asks for help so rarely, having anyone be concerned for her wellbeing is still a surprise. She has started to trust him and the softening of their barriers around each other is mirrored.

When the talking goes on long past dessert, Roland starts to fall asleep at the table and he takes his son to bed, guiding him through brushing his teeth and putting on his pyjamas even though the little guy's exhausted enough that could fall asleep in the middle of either task.

"Papa?"

"Yes, son?"

Roland curls on his side, wrapped around his stuffed toys. "When will Mal get better?"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't want her to be sick anymore."

He kisses that worried little forehead. "She won't be sick much longer."

Roland considers that, yawning again. "It's not like Mama?"

Is that where this worry stems from? Losing Mal to a comatose state the way they lost Marian for a time?

"Not like Mama at all." He rubs his son's cheek again, then nods. He's old enough for this. Maleficent won't mind him knowing the truth. "Remember when we talked about where you came from, how you grew inside Mama before you were ready to come out?"

He nods, stroking the stuffed dinosaur Henry gave him. For some reason the creature is a vivid red that would hardly work in nature, but Roland loves it.

"Sometimes having a baby grow inside of you can be hard. Sometimes it can make you sick."

Rolan's eyes grow white and huge. "Like Mama was sick?"

He squeezes his shoulder. "No, when Mama was frozen, that was magic. That's different, and it happens very rarely. I wouldn't worry about that too much. Regina's magic can undo most of the magic that might hurt anyone."

"Mal has magic too."

He smiles. "She does."

"Can she magic herself better?"

"She's not a kind of sick that you can make better with magic."

Roland sits up, in bed, holding the dinosaur tight. "Why not?"

He opens his arms, pulling his son in close for another hug. "Because she's having a baby, the way Snow White did, when Neal was born, or the way Mama had you, many years ago."

"Five years," Roland corrects. "I'm five."

"You are." He kisses his head again. "Mal is sick because there's a baby inside of her, and I know that makes you worry, but she's going to be okay, Regina and I will look after her, we'll make sure she's okay, and at the end you'll have another sister."

"Like Lily."

"Just like Lily," he agrees, because he'll need to tell him again a few times before it sinks in. "Just smaller."

"A little dragon," Roland says, beaming. He allows himself to be tucked back in, less worried about Mal now that he has an answer.

Robin hasn't asked how old the baby will be before she turns into a dragon. Hopefully the fire breathing only comes in when she's able to control it. Though, perhaps Regina could find a way to fireproof the house. He should start asking these questions, because hopefully they can prepare in some way for a creature whose tantrums might include small fireballs.

Kissing his son goodnight again, he returns back downstairs. Trying to imagine Roland being able to fly during his worst moods makes him shudder, but there will certainly be many beautiful moments, none of them that Mal has seen before, so all bittersweet. Regina's had an infant, but she's never watched one nurse, or seen the moment of wonder that is their first breath or the confusing flailing of their arms in the wide, dry world.

He looks forward to that, he realizes half-way down the stairs. Holding a sleeping baby while the world rushes around without them, and it's so much easier here. There are wondrous inventions like the diapers Neal wears and strollers and things for babies to chew that aren't old pieces of hide or bone.

Though dragon teething might need something sturdier. He leaves the stairs smiling, but walks into tension thick enough to stop an arrow. The light, somewhat cordial atmosphere has evaporated. Henry can't stop looking at Regina, who is pale and still. Even Hook's lost his smile and his eyes are on Emma, waiting for her to react. Snow and David both seem thunderstruck.

"What did you mean by that?" Lily asks. She still has a smile on her face, but it's fake. This smile is a warning more than a sign of affection.

"Nothing," David answers, his eyes wide. "I didn't mean to imply."

Regina's spine goes straight like a fence post and Mal's hand curls around her napkin like a fist.. What has David said? Something about the three of them? About Lily?

"I think you implied pretty damn well for not meaning to," Lily replies, staring at the table instead of looking at David.

"All I meant to say was that things are better now, you're with your family."

"My family," Lily repeats, looking down the table at Henry and her mothers. Her eyes pass over Robin and he wonder sif she counts him in her family. He's started to wonder what she needs from him and what position he occupies as the man with her mothers, because true, she is a grown woman, but at the same time, she's so hungry for affection that he wants to be kind to her every time he sees her.

"I have them now, is that what you're saying? That it's all okay because I have them?"

"Lily-" Maleficent's voice catches in her throat and she's so close to tears that Robin takes her hand, replacing the napkin with his fingers. He shouldn't have let his mind wander like that.

"What?" she glares at her mothers, first Mal, then Regina. Then her gaze moves to Snow and David, "Be nice? Do you know how hard it is to be nice when half of my heart loathes you both, not for what you did to me, but for what you did to Emma? Being here now doesn't magically make things better. You think your daughter feels better about the years she spent living through the shitstorm of life in the other world just because she's here?" Lily laughs and it's dark and painful, like shards of glass on stone. "You don't know what we went through. I've read the story book, you ran away from your castle and everyone in the damn forest looked out for you, protected you. We ran away out there, which means dumpsters, sleeping in wet alleys and men who-" She stops, shuddering as she looks away, unable to make eye contact with anyone.

"That shit no one writes down, and it never fucking makes it into a fairy tale," For a moment, Lily looks even more nauseated than Maleficent. Emma starts to leave her chair, perhaps to comfort her, but Lily waves her away.

"I'm sorry," she says, turning her beer in her hands. "Emma might have forgiven you for what happened to her, for what you did to me, but I haven't. You took me from my mother, after she asked for your help, filled me full of what you didn't want your own daughter to have, and then cast us both away. Made us both live out there and you think it's okay now, just because we're back?"

Mal reaches for her but Lily shakes off her hand and leaves, heading outside into the dark, still shaking with anger. The rest of the table sits in heavy silence, looking at each other and their plates.

"I'll start the dishes," Henry says, getting to his feet. He starts collecting the plates, some empty, Mal's seems barely touched, but she did eat her bread. That's a small victory, at least.

"I should," Regina starts, looking towards the yard, and Mal shakes her head.

"She doesn't want to talk to you, or me," she says, and there's discomfort even in the way she breathes. Lily's right, they should be more careful with her, more accommodating. "We did this to her, as much as Snow and the prince did."

"We sent her through that portal," Snow insists, and Regina's eyebrows rise at the admission. "We took her from you."

"And I didn't tell Regina she existed," Mal finishes. She shuts her eyes, and a tear creeps down the side of her face. Another follows, and Robin leans close, kissing her head.

"I'll talk to her."

Mal clings to him for a moment, her hand hot against his skin. She nods, her throat too tight for speech.

Regina leaves her chair, taking Lily's empty one and reaching for Maleficent, holding her while she cries. She meets his eyes and nods. "Maybe she'll open up to you, I don't think she's honest with either of us."

"How could she be?" Emma says, watching them with Lily's pain reflected on her face. Her anger is less, always is, but that emptiness is there. The sorrow that can't be removed. "You're both already so hard on yourselves."

"This is our fault," Regina reminds her. "Perhaps no one's more than mine."

"Regina-" Snow interrupts. She meets Maleficent's eyes and the quiet swells to fill the room.

"I'm going after Lily," he says, and perhaps only Henry and Emma hear him, because everyone else hangs on what Snow's going to say, how she'll try to make things right because Lily was an innocent and hurt more than anyone by what Snow and David did. Heading through the kitchen, Robin grabs another two beers before he heads out. He doesn't know what to say, or how to be what she needs, but he'll listen, and she doesn't have to hold back with him. Maybe that's enough.

* * *

The lights from the town make the stars weak overhead and it seems too bright, muted somehow. He appreciates the lights when he has to walk home, or something's threatening them, but he misses the stars. Maybe Lily does too, because she's settled down at the end of the deck, staring up at them.

The wood creaks and she doesn't look back.

"I don't want to talk."

"I brought beer," he says, sitting down next to her and offering her a bottle. "And you don't have to talk. We can just sit here."

"It'll get damp."

He chuckles and takes a slow sip of his beer. "I used to live in the forest. I think I can handle a little dew."

They sit in silence, and Lily seems to appreciate the beer. The lights in the house move, with activity shifting from the dining room to the kitchen and the living room. Will Regina wrap her arm around Mal on the sofa? Is she still crying? How do Snow and David justify what they did to themselves? He's known about Lily, about what they did for months now and he's still not sure if he would have made the same choice. He'd do anything to save Roland's life, but he has to trust his son to fight his own battles against the darkness, and everything else. Henry says Snow and David were manipulated, misled by the author and his search for a different story. There must be some truth in that, because Lily's suffering has been deep and long and she should have always had what every child deserves: a loving family.

When her beer's half gone, Lily looks at him. "Is Mom okay?"

"Regina's with her," he says, finding a smile. "She is always very protective of your mother."

"I always thought she'd be tougher," Lily admits to the sky. "She's different in the stories. Cold, reserved, vicious. I always pictured her as this avenging demon-dragon thing, who'd hurt everyone who'd ever hurt me."

He nods. Some of the illustrations do look like that, for both of Lily's mothers. "She survived losing you," he says. "Losing a child can destroy a parent, I've seen it. So many of my Merry Men lost their children to disease, or their wives and children both in childbirth. Some can soldier on, keep their hope, others never recover. Your mother never gave up. That's tough."

Lily shifts a little on the steps of the deck, getting a better look at his face. "I didn't know you saw her that way."

He grins, and that seems to amuse her. "I'm seeing many new sides to your mother."

She groans. "Don't go there."

Robin chuckles, because though it's not what he meant, he is sleeping with both of her mothers. It is strange to think how he's perhaps only a handful of years older than her, but through their relationships, she's his daughter. He's not sure what she needs more, a step-father or a friend, but he can be some measure of both. He joins her looking up at the stars. "Some of these I don't know."

"They're satellites," Lily begins and looks at him, as if testing what he knows. He can only shrug so she continues. "Fake stars, we made them. We put them into orbit to make our cell phones work, television, to spy on people-"

He raises his eyebrows and she smiles.

"Probably not through the curse, we're safe."

"It seems so empty. The lights of the town really take away a lot of the stars."

Lily sets her beer down and waves her hand, then the sky is vivid, full of stars so bright that it nearly hurts to look at them. Now they're familiar, bright and rich like a tapestry.

He studies her face, impressed. "How did you?"

"Either I muted the lights of the town or turned off all the power," she says, glancing back over her shoulder. The lights in Regina's house are still on when he looks, so perhaps she hasn't plunged the whole town into blackness. "Mom said I should try and use my magic more instinctively, think of what I want and try to do it, but I'm not always specific in my thoughts."

"This is beautiful," he says, lying back onto the deck to look at the stars. "Thank you."

She drinks more of her beer and lies down beside him. "Is Mom okay?"

"She's exhausted."

"That's normal right?"

He turns his head, studying her concern. "I have no idea what normal is for your mother's kind. She has said it was easier when she was pregnant with you, but each child is different."

Lily fidgets with her sleeve, tugging the fabric. "Do you think she just remembers it that way?"

"Judging by the cursing, I don't think this time is like the last time."

She laughs a little, before she catches herself, as if she's been taught not to find anything funny. "Did she swear in dragon? Where the words sound like stones breaking in the fire?"

"Do you understand that?"

"Sort of." Lily rolls her head back to look at the stars. "It's not a language, really, not like English and not like it works in my head, but I get the gist of it. Some part of me just knows. It's weird. Weirder still when I accidentally use it."

He smiles up at the sky. "I think it's beautiful."

"What? Dragon-speak?"

"That, and that there's a whole other part of you, complete with another language and you know that, deep in your soul. I think that's beautiful."

She laughs again and it's easier, softer. "Not creepy, because I'm a dragon and I could probably fry you to a crisp and eat you?"

Robin keeps his face still. "Do you like your humans crispy?"

"Haven't tried, I know it's how I like my bacon."

They both chuckle, and Lily drags herself up, reaching for her beer. She taps her fingers on the bottle, fidgeting with the damp label. "Is Mom really okay? You're with her, and she must tell you, because she's always so careful with me. Sometimes it seems like her head hurts so much that she can barely stand up, but she never says anything."

Sitting up, he moves closer to her, then reaches for her shoulder and she doesn't pull away. "She's happy."

"Really?"

"She's nauseated often, and some days she's better if she throws up because then her stomach settles and she can actually eat. She curses, a lot, in several languages, and her headaches are bad, worse than she remembers, and her fever just won't let up-"

Lily turns to him, her forehead furrowed with worry. "That sounds awful."

"It is," he pauses and she makes a face and putting his arm around her shoulders just makes sense because she's so miserable and he can help. "But when we talk about the baby, our little flame, she's happy. She smiles and it's like the sun on a winter morning, she and Regina sometimes just lie there, cuddled up together, smiling about the baby, which we want. We all want more than anything."

She stiffens under his arm and he squeezes her a little tighter. "You mean that?"

"Of course!" Why wouldn't he mean that? "I love children. Henry, Roland, you, in a manner, have been such extraordinary gifts in my life. Another one is a wonderful thing."

Lily smirks. "I'm thirty-two and you're what, forty?"

He chuckles and corrects her. "I'm thirty-eight, which is beside the point, we're all children compared to one of your mothers, and the other spent twenty-eight years trapped in a curse so she's far older than she appears, technically."

Studying him, she searches for something she needs. "So you're technically my stepfather?"

"No vows have been exchanged, but I must admit that I feel a certain kinship." He softens his voice, letting his amusement fade into affection. "I won't try to be a father to you, but I would like to be a friend, or a listening ear, whatever you need."

Lily shrugs but doesn't slip his arm from her shoulders. She allows it to stay put as she sips her beer. "I need you to look after my Mom, both of them. They're so hard on themselves, I can't even be angry."

"It's healthy for you to be angry."

"I am," she mutters, shaking her head. "Believe me." Lily peels the last of the label off her her beer bottle and mushes the damp paper between her fingers. "One of my mothers hid my existence and the other cast a curse so terrible that pretty much everyone over there wanted her dead and would have done almost anything to stop her. No one did, so we're all here, and I'm lucky I have them now, because Mom was dead, and she's back but she's so much more fragile than I expected. Before we met, I wanted her to save me, and now I just want to protect her."

"She appreciates that about you, about all of us, even if it confuses her."

"Do you get that look?" Lily asks, starting to smile again. "The one where she tilts her head and stares at you, like you'll make more sense if she looks at you at an angle."

He chuckles. "Exactly that." Robin rubs her shoulder, looking up at the patterns in the sky while his mind puts words in order. "I don't know Maleficent as well as Regina, yet both of your mothers have this wondrous combination of strength and vulnerability. They have some much capacity for love and affection, and they'be been alone, isolated. Here, now that we're together, I can't help thinking this is where we're meant to be."

"Raising an extra kid none of you even thought about? Doesn't sound like a fairy tale ending to me." She finishes the last of her beer and sets down the bottle.

"Do you want children?"

Lily makes a sound somewhere between a laugh and a snort. "No, oh no, not with my life."

"Your life now, or your life how it used to be?"

She shrugs and that slips his arm from her shoulders, but she smiles at him, perhaps it was appreciated while it was there. "It's better now, sure, but I'm still me. Double dose of darkness and everything. Shouldn't blame mom for wanting another kid."

"Your mother does not see this baby that way, she would never-"

Beaming at him, Lily winks. "Look at you defending her."

"She loves you."

"I know, darkness and all."

He nudges her shoulder. "No, she loves you, nothing about darkness. You're her daughter, and that means everything to you when you're a parent."

Lily raises her eyebrows.

"A good parent," he corrects, "Which she is, and so is Regina. They haven't had much of a chance with you, but they're more than willing."

"Yeah," she says, dragging her hand through her hair. "That's taking some getting used to."

"Give yourself time, you've only been here a few months." Lily makes a face and he smiles back, shaking his head. "I mean it, you have magic, a whole other body-"

"Those things, they're easy. Magic, the dragon, they're things I was missing, that I always felt I was missing. I didn't know what they were, but having them now makes sense. I'm more whole. I feel better about being myself than I ever have, which isn't saying much, but it is better. I'm better."

She's not looking for approval, but she smiles back shyly when he beams at her. "Good."

"Yeah?"

"You deserve to be happy."

Lily keeps her smile, but it trembles on her face. "Whenever anyone says I deserve something, it's never 'being happy'."

He shudders, because he would not have lived in the outside world for years the way she did. His two months in New York was more than enough. "I can't imagine what your life was like, I now what little I saw of New York in my time there helped me decide that that world is one I do not wish to be part of, ever. There's so little regard for other people."

Lily's eyes flit to the lights of the living room and she sighs. "Some of that's here too. They still don't get it."

"Snow and David?"

"What they did to Emma, to Mom-"

He hugs her again with one arm, because she doesn't have to finish the thought. He knows how much she hurts. Lily resists for a moment, then turns into him and to his surprise, then she's in his arms, holding him tight.

"We love you," he whispers into her hair. "I know it can't take away from the past, but we love you, Regina, Roland, Henry and I, we love you, and your mother, so much that however you got here, we are very grateful that you are here with us, because this is where you're meant to be. This is right."

"Even if that baby dragon's burning Mom up from the inside?"

"Even then."

Lily rests her head on his shoulder, and she sniffs and doesn't let go. It's more than hiding her tears. "You love her?"

The question's so soft and so quick that he answers without thinking. "I do."

Then she pulls back, looking at his eyes with the same intensity Mal has, as if she can bore through him because she doesn't need to blink. "You mean that, you love Mom, not just Regina."

Robin touches her face, then strokes back her hair. He didn't realize it was there, that it was rooted so deeply in him, but he's always trusted his heart, and it has decided. "I love both of your mothers, and I will do everything in my power to keep them happy and safe."

She continues to stare, at and through him, and slowly, Lily nods and he can't help the sensation that runs over him, as if he's been blessed and somehow found worthy.

"I believe you," she says. "Some people talk about love and you know, you just know, they don't mean it, but you- you're okay."

Robin chuckles, and hugs her again, this time lighter, more familiar. "Thank you. You're not too bad either."


End file.
